There's not much we don't know about African safaris, but we do confess that even after so many years spent wandering through some of the continent's bucket-list destinations we've discovered something very interesting: you don't need to be a fishing fan to enjoy fishing on safari. Indeed, everything you thought you knew about fishing becomes irrelevant the moment you take up a rod and tentatively aim that first cast out into African waters...

Be prepared to get hooked. There, we've said it. If you don't believe us because you're of the opinion that fishing is boring, a waste of time and something you'd never choose to do voluntarily, think again, because when it comes to having a (fishing) rod in your hand in the middle of wild Africa, something very strange happens to you - you relax. Completely. 



It's as if rod and line connect you to a calmness you never knew existed. There's no need for talking, discourse or banter as your awareness suddenly peaks and you find yourself absolutely immersed in where you are and everything else in your life fades into insignificance. You notice everything - the light dancing on the water, the gentle slap of it against the boat you're standing in, the gentle breeze filled with an ambient mixture of insects buzzing and birds calling, the grunt of the occasional hippo and distant trumpet of an elephant... All while focussing on what may or may not be happening beneath the surface as you secretly hope a fish may find what's on the end of your line interesting.

As a sense of supreme bliss descends, you wonder why it took you so long to do this and silently swear to do more of it before you leave for home, and maybe even once you get home. And when your line tugs gently and you feel the tingle of expectation and the thrill of possibility surge through you, the sense of being alive is intoxicating.

The catch, when it comes, is part of the ritual, reeling in with excitement at what may be on the end of the hook, feeling an unbridled sense of achievement as you land your fish, wonder at it, and then watch with satisfaction as it's unhooked and released back from whence it came to fight another day.

Without thinking you're ready for the next cast, and the next, and before you know it you find yourself happy to spend an entire day doing this, just breathing in and out and being at one with your surroundings in a bubble of peace and tranquillity.

So... What can you expect of fishing on safari, what's out there and where's best? Let's dive in...

The fish that fights like it has a personal grievance

If there is a single species responsible for converting non-fishermen into fishing obsessives on the African continent, it is the tigerfish, and it owes nobody an apology for what it does to people.

The Zambezi River system and its tributaries, including the mighty Chobe and the channels of the Okavango Delta, are the most renowned homes of this ferocious predator. Its jaw-dropping, heart-stopping, line-screaming aggression has led experienced anglers who've fished every continent to describe encounters with it in terms usually reserved for extreme sports. 

It has interlocking, razor-sharp teeth that it uses with considerable enthusiasm, a muscular body built entirely for speed and power, and a temperament that suggests it took the whole predator thing extremely personally. It hits with the kind of force that travels straight up the line and into your arms and stays there for the rest of the day.

With a bony palate that requires you to "strike" hard in an upward, jerking fashion to get it on the hook, be prepared for a wrestling match if you want to land a tiger.

Zambia's Lower Zambezi National Park, is widely regarded as some of the finest tigerfish water in the world, with the added advantage of game viewing that would be the headline attraction anywhere else. Elephant on the banks, hippo in the shallows, crocodile on the sandbanks regarding your boat with the long, considered gaze of something that's been doing this longer than you have. The fishing here is extraordinary and the backdrop is the kind that makes you put the rod down occasionally just to look.

Botswana adds its own chapter to the tigerfish story. The Chobe River and the channels of the Okavango Panhandle are productive tigerfish waters with the particular advantage of Botswana's extraordinary wildlife density making every fishing trip a game drive conducted from the water. The Panhandle in particular, where the Okavango is still a proper river rather than the fanned-out delta it becomes further south, is one of Southern Africa's finest and most underrated fishing destinations, delivering tigerfish alongside bream, catfish and other species in water of such clarity and beauty that the fishing almost feels beside the point. Almost.

Nile perch: the fish that ate a lake

East Africa's fishing story is dominated by a species that is, depending on your perspective, either one of the great sport fish of the continent or one of ecology's more cautionary tales. The Nile perch was introduced to Lake Victoria in the 1950s, proceeded to eat its way through hundreds of endemic fish species with a thoroughness that biologists still regard with a mixture of horror and reluctant admiration, and in the process became the largest freshwater fish in Africa, reaching weights of over 200kg in the lake's most productive waters.

For the angler, this is spectacular news. Lake Victoria, shared between Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, delivers Nile perch fishing of a scale and quality that has no equivalent in freshwater fishing anywhere on the continent, and Uganda's position on the lake's northern shore makes it the natural base for anyone combining a gorilla trek or savannah safari with serious fishing.

Uganda's White Nile, particularly around Bujagali and Karuma, offers an entirely different fishing experience: fast, rocky water producing some of the finest tigerfish catches outside of the Zambezi system, alongside Nile perch and a variety of other species in a river setting of genuinely dramatic beauty. This is not necessarily gentle, contemplative fishing but fishing that requires some concentration and a reasonable grip on what happens when a large, angry fish takes your line in fast water, which is to say an experience of considerable excitement.

When the ocean calls

For those whose fishing ambitions extend to the open water, the East African coast, the Mozambique Channel and the Seychelles collectively represent some of the finest saltwater fishing on earth, and the combination of world-class game fishing with the broader safari or island experience is one that more travellers are discovering every year.

Mozambique's coastline, particularly the waters around the Bazaruto Archipelago, delivers marlin, sailfish, barracuda, dorado and yellowfin tuna in waters of extraordinary richness. The combination of a Mozambique beach stay with the reef and deep-sea fishing available from the archipelago's operator-based boats is one of the most complete holiday experiences Southern Africa offers, and one that Zafaris can put together with the same care as any bush-based itinerary.

The Seychelles takes the saltwater fishing experience into an entirely different register. The outer islands in particular, remote atolls surrounded by water of astonishing clarity and richness, offer fly fishing on the flats for bonefish that attracts dedicated anglers from around the world, alongside conventional deep-sea fishing for the full range of Indian Ocean pelagic species. It is, in the most literal sense, fishing at the edge of the world, in water so blue and so clear that the fish are visible long before they take the fly, which turns out to be as much a test of nerve as of technique.

The bit that matters most

None of this requires you to be a serious, dedicated, tackle-obsessed angler to enjoy. The beauty of fishing as a safari activity is that it scales effortlessly to the level of commitment and experience you bring to it. A casual morning on the Chobe River with a line in the water and elephant on the bank is as rewarding an experience as a dedicated tigerfish session on the Lower Zambezi for someone who's been reading about it for years, just for entirely different reasons.

What it adds to any safari is a different pace, a different relationship with the landscape and a different kind of attention to the water and the life it contains. The rivers and lakes of Africa are as rich, as diverse and as extraordinary as the land around them, and fishing is one of the finest ways to engage with them properly.

Besides, anyone who tells you there's nothing exciting about a tigerfish hitting a line at full speed in the middle of the Zambezi with a pod of hippo next to you has clearly never tried it!

Fancy a line in the water alongside everything else Africa has to offer? Get in touch with Sian and Cara at Zafaris and let's build you a safari with something extra on the end of the hook.

Text: Sharon Gilbert-Rivett